2 ms·

Oh my god this lady should be running a pet shop. She's had this role since 2005 and is only now dogfooding the software for 10 minutes a day? Stunning and brav

Oh my god this lady should be running a pet shop. She's had this role since 2005 and is only now dogfooding the software for 10 minutes a day? Stunning and brave. Imagine Linus Torvalds or Theo from OpenBSD using Windows out of convenience. Unthinkable.

thayne 5mo ago
It's possible she used it on a server. But yeah...
- 866-RON-0-FEZ 5mo ago
  I knew people running FreeBSD on the desktop back in 2003. If it was good enough for them then... Could they not scrounge up enough cash for a Thinkpad in the last 20 years?
  - type0 5mo ago
    I tried FreeBSD on tower pc in 2003, it's not that it was completely unusable it but compared to Linux it was like night and day. Now it's still not perfect, more like midnight and evening.
    - deleted 5mo ago
      [deleted]
    - TallGuyShort 5mo ago
      I used FreeBSD on a laptop 2008-2010 and it was usable, other than needing a USB Wifi adapter. Definitely not as usable as Linux, but I was able to do 18 credit hours per semester. Quite a lot more than 10 minutes a day. Notably, you and I aren't FreeBSD Foundation Executive Directors.
    - Milpotel 5mo ago
      I ran it on my desktop at that time and only had to switch to Linux because FreeBSD 5.0 wasn't compatible with my machine anymore.
- mvanbaak 5mo ago
  this. I have been running FreeBSD for over a decade, but not on my laptop.
stackghost 5mo ago
[flagged]
- 866-RON-0-FEZ 5mo ago
  > Not to interrupt the predictable HN hates women train but Oh rubbish. When you're the head of something, you're paid to use their products if not for anything but image purposes. Do you think the head of GM drives around in a Mustang?
  - stackghost 5mo ago
    >Oh rubbish. Nah, it's not rubbish. The comments on just about any article featuring a woman in a tech leadership position are always the same here. >When you're the head of something, you're paid to use their products if not for anything but image purposes. Again you conveniently leave out the "on a laptop" qualifier. 10 minutes a day is about all I could tolerate of BSD on a laptop too.
    - 866-RON-0-FEZ 5mo ago
      > Again you conveniently leave out the "on a laptop" qualifier. If your hangup really is "Unless you're using it plugged in at all times" well, she is the Executive Director. I'm sure they can pay an intern to follow her around at all times with a really long extension cord.
      - stackghost 5mo ago
        No I'm saying that concluding that she doesn't use FreeBSD simply because she doesn't use it on a laptop, especially considering how poor the laptop experience is, is stupid. I have three machines in my basement running freeBSD right now, and if I was the director of the foundation I wouldn't daily drive it on a laptop either.
  - cperciva 5mo ago
    the head of something Note that "FreeBSD Foundation" != "FreeBSD Project". Obviously they're connected, but the FreeBSD Foundation supports the FreeBSD Project; they don't direct it. Governance of the FreeBSD Project vests in the FreeBSD core team, which is elected by FreeBSD developers; and as a FreeBSD developer I'm far more concerned with what OS members of the core team run than I am with what OS members of the Foundation run.
phendrenad2 5mo ago
Really setting the bar low there aintcha? If Torvald's Linux use is the benchmark then we're doomed. Aren't there ample quotes from him by now where he basically says he only cares about coding and doesn't have strong opinions about GUIs? Is Theo any better in that aspect?
- gus_massa 5mo ago
  IIRC, he cares about not breaking userspace, because he is runing the bleeding edge in his main computer and any bacward incompatible change breaks linusspace.
sedatk 5mo ago
CEO of Take-Two Interactive (Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption 2, Borderlands, NBA2K) doesn't play any games. https://fortune.com/2026/05/06/ceo-take-two-interactive-software-strauss-zelnick-doesnt-play-video-games-grand-theft-auto-vi/ https://fortune.com/2026/05/06/ceo-take-two-interactive-soft...
- readthenotes1 5mo ago
  He looks like he plays a lot of golf
- SoftTalker 5mo ago
  The CEOs of big US tech companies don't let their kids use screens (or curate it to a high degree).
  - red-iron-pine 5mo ago
    i believe you. link me
ndiddy 5mo ago
There was a bit of a controversy a few years ago when people realized that the head of the Linux Foundation was using Mac OS to give a presentation at a conference (especially ironic considering the presentation was about using Linux on the desktop). If the FreeBSD Foundation is similar to the Linux Foundation (which seems to be the case from looking at their site), it's mainly intended as a vehicle so large companies can fund aspects of the system they want developed rather than an ideologically driven organization like the FSF. From that perspective, an executive actually trying to run FreeBSD is a nice thing to see. It's been a running joke for years that when you look at a FreeBSD conference you'll see all the developers running it in a VM on their MacBooks, so if they're treating bare metal as more of a priority I think it's a positive development.
- stefan_ 5mo ago
  If only the Linux Foundation was primarily funding development of Linux, it's hard to describe what it is they are doing exactly, but it's a bit like a social club for Middle Managers and other insignificant people, building ecosystems^TM, connections and synergies^TM, and of course the Linux brand. Starting initiatives and such. Gaze upon a premier Linux Foundation project: https://www.canton.network/global-synchronizer https://www.canton.network/global-synchronizer
  - dgellow 5mo ago
    Thanks for pointing that out, I had no idea the Linux foundation was in the blockchain grift. Case studies like this one is such a bad look: https://www.lfdecentralizedtrust.org/case-studies/establishing-a-new-foundation-for-trust-how-besu-helps-governments-meet-citizen-needs-while-rebuilding-credibility https://www.lfdecentralizedtrust.org/case-studies/establishi... Like, seriously, try to read this page content and understand what it is about.

thayne 5mo ago

It's possible she used it on a server. But yeah...

866-RON-0-FEZ 5mo ago
I knew people running FreeBSD on the desktop back in 2003. If it was good enough for them then... Could they not scrounge up enough cash for a Thinkpad in the last 20 years?
- type0 5mo ago
  I tried FreeBSD on tower pc in 2003, it's not that it was completely unusable it but compared to Linux it was like night and day. Now it's still not perfect, more like midnight and evening.
  - deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
  - TallGuyShort 5mo ago
    I used FreeBSD on a laptop 2008-2010 and it was usable, other than needing a USB Wifi adapter. Definitely not as usable as Linux, but I was able to do 18 credit hours per semester. Quite a lot more than 10 minutes a day. Notably, you and I aren't FreeBSD Foundation Executive Directors.
  - Milpotel 5mo ago
    I ran it on my desktop at that time and only had to switch to Linux because FreeBSD 5.0 wasn't compatible with my machine anymore.
mvanbaak 5mo ago
this. I have been running FreeBSD for over a decade, but not on my laptop.

stackghost 5mo ago

[flagged]

866-RON-0-FEZ 5mo ago
> Not to interrupt the predictable HN hates women train but Oh rubbish. When you're the head of something, you're paid to use their products if not for anything but image purposes. Do you think the head of GM drives around in a Mustang?
- stackghost 5mo ago
  >Oh rubbish. Nah, it's not rubbish. The comments on just about any article featuring a woman in a tech leadership position are always the same here. >When you're the head of something, you're paid to use their products if not for anything but image purposes. Again you conveniently leave out the "on a laptop" qualifier. 10 minutes a day is about all I could tolerate of BSD on a laptop too.
  - 866-RON-0-FEZ 5mo ago
    > Again you conveniently leave out the "on a laptop" qualifier. If your hangup really is "Unless you're using it plugged in at all times" well, she is the Executive Director. I'm sure they can pay an intern to follow her around at all times with a really long extension cord.
    - stackghost 5mo ago
      No I'm saying that concluding that she doesn't use FreeBSD simply because she doesn't use it on a laptop, especially considering how poor the laptop experience is, is stupid. I have three machines in my basement running freeBSD right now, and if I was the director of the foundation I wouldn't daily drive it on a laptop either.
- cperciva 5mo ago
  the head of something Note that "FreeBSD Foundation" != "FreeBSD Project". Obviously they're connected, but the FreeBSD Foundation supports the FreeBSD Project; they don't direct it. Governance of the FreeBSD Project vests in the FreeBSD core team, which is elected by FreeBSD developers; and as a FreeBSD developer I'm far more concerned with what OS members of the core team run than I am with what OS members of the Foundation run.

phendrenad2 5mo ago

Really setting the bar low there aintcha? If Torvald's Linux use is the benchmark then we're doomed. Aren't there ample quotes from him by now where he basically says he only cares about coding and doesn't have strong opinions about GUIs? Is Theo any better in that aspect?

gus_massa 5mo ago
IIRC, he cares about not breaking userspace, because he is runing the bleeding edge in his main computer and any bacward incompatible change breaks linusspace.

sedatk 5mo ago

CEO of Take-Two Interactive (Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption 2, Borderlands, NBA2K) doesn't play any games. https://fortune.com/2026/05/06/ceo-take-two-interactive-software-strauss-zelnick-doesnt-play-video-games-grand-theft-auto-vi/ https://fortune.com/2026/05/06/ceo-take-two-interactive-soft...

readthenotes1 5mo ago
He looks like he plays a lot of golf
SoftTalker 5mo ago
The CEOs of big US tech companies don't let their kids use screens (or curate it to a high degree).
- red-iron-pine 5mo ago
  i believe you. link me

ndiddy 5mo ago

There was a bit of a controversy a few years ago when people realized that the head of the Linux Foundation was using Mac OS to give a presentation at a conference (especially ironic considering the presentation was about using Linux on the desktop). If the FreeBSD Foundation is similar to the Linux Foundation (which seems to be the case from looking at their site), it's mainly intended as a vehicle so large companies can fund aspects of the system they want developed rather than an ideologically driven organization like the FSF. From that perspective, an executive actually trying to run FreeBSD is a nice thing to see. It's been a running joke for years that when you look at a FreeBSD conference you'll see all the developers running it in a VM on their MacBooks, so if they're treating bare metal as more of a priority I think it's a positive development.

stefan_ 5mo ago
If only the Linux Foundation was primarily funding development of Linux, it's hard to describe what it is they are doing exactly, but it's a bit like a social club for Middle Managers and other insignificant people, building ecosystems^TM, connections and synergies^TM, and of course the Linux brand. Starting initiatives and such. Gaze upon a premier Linux Foundation project: https://www.canton.network/global-synchronizer https://www.canton.network/global-synchronizer
- dgellow 5mo ago
  Thanks for pointing that out, I had no idea the Linux foundation was in the blockchain grift. Case studies like this one is such a bad look: https://www.lfdecentralizedtrust.org/case-studies/establishing-a-new-foundation-for-trust-how-besu-helps-governments-meet-citizen-needs-while-rebuilding-credibility https://www.lfdecentralizedtrust.org/case-studies/establishi... Like, seriously, try to read this page content and understand what it is about.